Territorial distribution and quality indicators of compulsory Neonatal Hearing Screening in Brazil after Law 12,303/2010

Abstract

ABSTRACT Purpose: to survey the national literature after the universal neonatal hearing screening became compulsory, addressing aspects related to its territorial distribution, the screening procedures employed, and verify whether the internationally proposed quality indicators have been achieved. Methods: an integrative review of articles indexed in the BIREME, PubMed, and Scopus databases. Inclusion criteria: Articles in Portuguese and English published after Law 12,303/2010 was passed, whose theme was the neonatal hearing screening in Brazil. Exclusion criteria: Information from books and/or chapters, integrative review articles or reflexive articles, studies conducted in other countries, and studies approaching a specific subpopulation. The search strategy combined the following descriptors in Portuguese and English, respectively: “Triagem Neonatal”, “Perda auditiva”, “Recém-nascido”, “Brasil”, “Neonatal Screenings”, “Hearing Loss”, “Newborn”, “Brazil”. Results: of the 224 articles found, 26 were duplicates, 38 were books or book chapters, three were integrative reviews, 20 were studies conducted in other countries, and 120 were either reflexive articles or studies approaching a specific subpopulation. The final sample comprised 17 articles that addressed the proposed theme. Conclusion: the South and Southeast Regions of Brazil concentrated most of the programs, and the main technique employed was the evoked otoacoustic emissions. Two quality indicators were achieved: performance rates within the first month of life, and diagnosis referral rates. However, the coverage rates remained below the expectation, and there were still high retest referral rates, high nonattendance rates in the subsequent stages, low satisfactory retest result rates, and a large number of “fail” in the two screening stages.